Engineers are studying how to best replace the cloverleaf interchange at New Circle Road (KY 4) and Newtown Pike (KY 922). The interchange was constructed in the 1960s when traffic on New Circle Road was less than a third of what it is today.

U.S. Representative Ben Chandler recently presented Lexington with $2 million in federal funding for a project to extend Newtown Pike. Plans are to redevelop Newtown Pike as a new gateway to the University of Kentucky from I-75. Work on the $36.5 million project is expected to begin in 2007 and take 15 years to complete.

The 60-day regular session of the Kentucky General Assembly ended on April 13. Thirteen bills relating to transportation were passed into law during the 2004 regular session. Click “read full text” below for summaries of each bill.

The Valley View Ferry across the Kentucky River where Madison, Fayette, and Jessamine Counties meet is Kentucky’s oldest business. It has been in operation since 1785. The ferry is privately owned; however, payments from the Transportation Cabinet keep the service free.

This summer will see an event known as “400 Miles of Antiques, Collectibles & Stuff” along nearly 400-miles of US 68 Kentucky. The event will be held June 3-6 and involve events along in 24 counties along US 68’s route.

When the 2004 Recommended Six-Year Highway Plan was released Transportation Cabinet Secretary Maxwell Clay Bailey assured legislators that no projects had been removed the 2002 Six-Year Plan; however, the Courier-Journal has found that fifteen projects scheduled under the 2002 plan were moved to the unscheduled needs list in the new 2004 plan.

The Herald-Leader reports that the special treatment received by the Paris Pike widening project is not feasible for all projects. The project had been stopped by court injunctions and only allowed to proceed after the Transportation Cabinet developed a plan designed to preserve the historic nature of the corridor. This raised the price of the project considerably, and is the main reason why not all projects will receive similar treatment. The widening project cost around $4.5 million per mile, nearly twice the cost of similar projects in the state.

The award winning $93 million widening project between Lexington and Paris was completed during the week of Nov. 30, 2003.

Part Davistown, one of Lexington's poorest neighborhoods, will be razed to make way for a 1.25-mile extension of Newtown Pike through downtown Lexington. Many of the houses in the neighborhood will be cleared to make way for a new housing development and park associated with the project. Current residents have been promised opportunities to live in the new housing development.

The commonwealth will use a provision of the federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) to receive federal money to fund LexTran and TARC. The ISTEA allows states to use money spent constructing toll roads that are now part of the National Highway System to be used as credits to receive federal matching funds. Usually, states must match 20% of the federal money applied to highway and transit project; however, Kentucky will use credits accumulated through the construction of the Kentucky Turnpike and parkway system in place of the 20% state matching funds.

The National Partnership for Highway Quality awarded its 2003 State Award to the team involved in the Paris Pike Reconstruction Project. Special care to preserve the character of the neighboring land was taken during the project to widen Paris Pike between Lexington and Paris.

Archaeologists are conducting investigations of several sites along US 25 between Lexington and Georgetown as preparation work for major widening of the road. Actual construction of the route is expected to begin in late 2006 or early 2007.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has established a website covering the widening of Harrodsburg Road (US 68) in Fayette and Jessamine Counties at us68.ky.gov. The site includes construction schedules, maps, and photographs.

The Paris Pike Project was one 12 projects chosen for an Environmental Excellence Award. The widening of the road was originally proposed in 1966; however, fears that the beauty of the road would be destroyed by widening delayed the project for years. The project follows the contours of the land, preserved trees along the road, and used wooden fences instead of traditional metal guardrails.

The project was also honored by the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation, Inc, a not-for-profit group that advocated historic preservation in central Kentucky.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has established a website with information about the Richmond Road project at us25.ky.gov. The site includes a construction schedule, maps of the project, and photographs relating to the project.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported in this January 28, 2003 article that a proposed reorganization of Central Kentucky's only regional transportation-planning organization would give Jessamine County more influence over the panel. Jessamine County joined the organization in 1998 in the hoops of researching a connector route between Nicholasville and Interstate 75.

When the first part of this bridge opened in 1946 it was the 7th tallest bridge in the United States. Today it is still an engineering wonder; two parallel bridges were joined together by a third bridge to form one continuous roadway. On July 5, 2003, I took these pictures of the I-75's crossing of the Kentucky River: the Clay's Ferry Bridge.

The entire length of I-64 in Kentucky has been designated the Purple Heart Trail. The Military Order of Purple Heart has undertaken an effort to have each of the 50 states and Puerto Rico designate one of their highways to honor recipients of the Purple Heart. Kentucky will erect 24 signs designating the Purple Heart Trail: one at each of I-64's entrances to the state and signs in each county along I-64.

Federal, state, and local officials have pledged that housing and community input will be taken into account during the planning and construction of an extension to Newtown Pike in downtown Lexington. 180 new homes will be constructed by non-profit agencies during the process of building the new road. The new 1.25 mile road is expected to open in 2007. The road will connect West Main Street to Patterson Street.

A neighborhood group will present an alternative plan for reconstructing Clays Mill Road in Fayette County at a meeting on September 17. The time and place of the meeting has yet to be determined.

Plans exist to widen the road to three or five lanes. The crowded road is a residential corridor lined with schools and churches. Neighborhood groups oppose widening because they fear it will bring a great increase in traffic.

The Lexington Herald-Leader ran several articles discussing Lexington area traffic in their Sunday, Aug. 18, 2002. Among the articles was a look at the mayoral candidates' plans for congestion relief: the paper states that one candidate's plan may be impossible and the other's is already being implemented. Another article examines the work of the city's traffic signal systems manager who has recently been trying new traffic signal patterns on the city's highways. Another article attempts to answer frequently asked questions about traffic signals in Lexington, one article looks at how traffic on Man o' War Boulevard has developed since it opened in 1988, and a final article looks at the city's traffic television show.

According to one article, when Man o' War Boulevard opened in 1988 the 16.1 mile road had 11 stop lights and one flashing warning light. An Herald-Leader reporter was able to drive the road in 25 minutes. Now the road has 33 stop lights, and a drive from one end to the other took 30 minutes.

Work expected to begin in August will add two additional to Richmond Road between New Circle Road and Eagle Creek Drive in Lexington. The project is expected to take until fall 2004 to complete. Traffic on the road is projected to reach 80,000 vehicles per day by 2022, nearly double the traffic that used the road in 1999.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports in this article (no longer online) that Harrodsburg Road (US 68) will be widened to four lanes beginning this summer. Work should be completed on the 3.4-mile section between Man o' War Boulevard and Brannon Road in late 2003 or early 2004.

After examining press releases from Congressman Fletcher (no longer online) and Congressman Rogers, I have learned more specific details about what projects Kentucky's money in the 2002 U.S. Department of Transportation spending bill has been allocated for:

$20 million for land acquisition and planning efforts for Interstate 66, with an additional $2.5 million provided for ongoing design efforts of I-66 in Pike County.

$2 million for a new initiative at the University of Kentucky. The Academy for Community Transportation Innovation will educate professionals and study transportation development, planning and design of suburban and rural areas.

$2 million to help Kentucky establish a statewide clearinghouse for public travel information.

$2 million for a project to provide traffic information through a universal telephone number (5-1-1). The pilot project will build a first generation 511 call center in Kentucky that could become a national resource for traffic information.

$15.5 million for bus and bus facility needs across Kentucky.

$1.5 million for preliminary work on a project to straighten a dangerous section of the Daniel Boone Parkway in Leslie County between mileposts 37 and 44

$4 million for improved access to the Parkway from the new Clay/Leslie County Industrial Park

$2 million for continued work on a project to improve US 25N in Rockcastle County to provide for increased traffic at the new Country Music Hall of Fame

$1.4 million to improve Cold Hill Road, located in the Daniel Boone National Forest in Laurel County

$995,000 to improve a stretch of Craigs Creek Road on U.S. Forest Service land in Laurel County

$885,000 for improvements to Kentucky’s Scenic Byways, including the Country Music Highway, the Wilderness Road Heritage Highway and the Cumberland Cultural Heritage Highway.

$800,000 for the design phase of a 4-lane project on a section of US 27 south of Somerset to Burnside Island.

According to this KYTC press release, work has begun to the last section of the new four lane Paris Pike connecting Lexington and Paris. This road is US 27 and US 68 and should be completed by November 2003.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports in this October 8, 2001 article (no longer online) that the KYTC has formed a focus group to study upgrades to the northeast portion of New Circle Road (KY 4) in Lexington. The ideas for upgrades include upgrading the road to a freeway or just eliminating a few traffic lights.

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